The Past of the Future
by Lord Furnival
Summary: NEW UPDATES! Zack is kind of a major character in this because of Cloud's flashbacks. PLEASE REVIEW!
1. Depression

The Past of the Future

_This story is a crossover between FF7, FF8, and Tales of Symphonia. There might be sexual content in this, but don't plan on it. There is no Yaoi and just because three men live in the same apartment doesn't mean they're gay. This is part romance, but don't start getting on my case about pairings. If you have suggestions, put them in the reviews. This is my first fanfic, but don't flame me if it stinks. If you do like it, I'd like some feedback. Thanks, and enjoy._

I do not own any Final Fantasy characters. Those all belong to Square-Enix. This applies to all other chapters of this Fanfic. _God…_

"Dialogue"

_Thoughts and memories_

Cloud groggily woke up from last night's beer induced sleep. His usually spiky blond hair was matted down. His black shirt was stained with alcohol. He opened his eyes. He was still in the bar. The musty smell of cigarettes and mold emanated from everywhere. His own breath smelled like smoke, even though he hadn't been smoking. The room swirled around his head. He wasn't used to this kind of drinking.

"Ugh…"

He tried to get up, but as he brought himself up to his feet, his legs collapsed underneath him. He fell forward, his head hitting a table. Blood, he tasted blood in his mouth. The blood tasted like his pain. The pain that was unquenchable by alcohol. He couldn't feel his body. Time didn't seem to move, it was present, but it stopped. The room spun around him. He didn't like this feeling, this pain. It all just seemed to fade away.

"Aeris…"

_He walked into the pool, holding her body. It was limp in his arms. Her long brown hair dipped into the water. He untied her bow, let it ride the wind. His hands let go of her body, but he would really never let her go._

"_Why? Why did it have to end this way? She must be avenged. I will avenge her! SEPHIROTH! DAMN YOOOOOOOU!_

"Cloud…CLOUD! Get your lazy ass up!" A short-haired blond man with a long grey coat and a red dagger on his sleeve was shaking him vigorously. Each jerk seemed to shake off more of the alcohol. "Come on! Take the booze like a man." He slapped Cloud across the face, but Cloud just lolled his head. "I can drink this much and barely get buzzed." He just tossed Cloud to the ground.

"Unngh…Seifer?" Cloud started to get to his feet. Seifer walked over to him and helped him up.

"That's more like it. If you can't take 10 mugs of beer, than you shouldn't be drinking."

"We can't all be drunks like you Seifer."

"I'm not a drunk."

"When I first met you, you were sitting on the side of the road with a sign that said 'Will kill for beer.'"

"That was a misunderstanding. I used to be a member of SeeD, so I have an expertise in disposing of unwanted people."

"But why for beer?"

"I was a homeless drunk then, I'm not anymore." Cloud started to laugh.

"You looked so funny back then. You had the biggest beard and your hair was really long. Woah!" Cloud fell to the ground. His legs still weren't working right.

"Dumb ass…I'm always going to have to take care of you, aren't I?" Seifer picked him up and hoisted him over his shoulder. As he walked out the door, he muttered something about Cloud being a nuisance and real men drinking beer. Cloud just gave a weak grin.

Back at the apartment, Seifer was taking a shower when Cloud decided to gather some strength and walk around.

"Bah! He says I'm a nuisance." Plates, beer cans, and clothes were strewn throughout the place. "If I don't pick it up, no one will." Cloud sighed. "I feel like a housewife." He gathered all of Seifer's clothes and tossed them into his room. Then he picked up the plates and stacked them next to the sink. Then it came to what he was going to do with the beer cans. He went and got a trash bag, and right as he was about to pick a half full beer can, Seifer popped his head from out of the bathroom.

"Hey Cloud! I forgot the soap next to the TV. Could you get it for…Ooomhp!" A beer can went flying through the air,beer that was still in it flying out of itmaking it look like a swirling vortex, and smacked Seifer right in the face. He went reeling backwards into the bathroom. Cloud could hear cursing echoing from the room. Seifer jumped out of the bathroom butt naked with an imprint of a beer can across his face. "WHAT THE FUCK! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!"

"Sorry, I thought it was the soap." Cloud picked up the soap and dropped it in Seifer's hand, and Seifer, who still had an outraged look on his face, made an obscene gesture at Cloud. Before the nude man could rage back into the shower, Cloud said, "You're a slob. Why in the history of Hell would a bar of bath soap be sitting next to the TV. Clean up after yourself. Jackass…" He pushed Seifer into the bathroom and slammed the door. "I hate my life." He went over to the couch to watch some TV. He tried to find the remote. After 3 minutes of no success, he had an idea. He reached under the couch to find a beer can. Wedged through the beer can like a knife was the remote. He flicked on the news.

"…has been seen wandering aimlessly through the streets. There have been reports of assault. If you encounter this man, contact the Shinra police immediately." _Interesting._ Cloud thought. _Sounds like Seifer after he's had one too many beers. Who knows? They shouldn't make a big deal about it. Not in this city._ Cloud got about 3 minutes of silence. From outside in the hallway of the apartment complex he heard a commotion, a great commotion. _Is this the guy?_ Cloud thought. He walked up to the door and slowly pushed it open. He looked down the hall. There were crazily moving shadows at the bend.

"Wass yu doin' hunh? Gerrof me! You sonsabishes! Graah!" CRASH "WASSAT FOR? I'm tryin' to get back teh my apar'ment!"

_Oh no. I was half right. It was a drunk guy, but it's no Seifer._

"COMMIN' THROUGH!" The familiar face of Cid came barreling down the hall followed by 5 angry apartment staff. Another was clinging on to his shirt. Amazingly, Cid's cigarette seemed to stay in his mouth no matter how loud he yelled or how wide his mouth got.

_Why me? Why is it always my roommates? _Cloud thought.

"HEY CLOUD! WASSUP?"


	2. Exodus

The Past of the Future

_Sephiroth's body, cut up and bloody, fell to the ground. Cloud felt hollow inside. He thought victory would be better than this. He finally realized it. Killing Sephiroth was never going to bring Aeris back. He had sinned. Sephiroth was evil, but it was not for him to decide if he should live or die. "Aeris, I'm sorry. I couldn't save you." Tears streamed down his cheeks. "It's my fault. It's my fault you got involved in this mess. I'm sorry." At the peak of his sorrow, a shining light came from above. "What's going on?"_

"_It's not your fault Cloud. Don't blame yourself. I hate it when you cry."_

"_Aeris?"_

"Cloud!"

"Hunh?"

"What the hell is going on?" He looked up. A bewildered Seifer was staring him in the face. This time, fortunately, he was fully clothed. Cloud looked around and saw rubble everywhere. He saw Tifa talking with police. She was shaking her head and waving her arms a if to say there was no problem. Then he saw Cid. Unconscious and trapped under a floor board, he still had that cigarette in his mouth. Then he remembered what had happened.

"_HEY CLOUD, WASSUP?"_

"_Wait, Cid, slow down!" SMASH Cloud, Cid, and the apartment staff member went careening into the apartment. Cloud's eyes were as big as dinner plates. They flew impossibly far across the room. As Cloud struggled to gain control of the flight path, seemed to become 3 times as affected by gravity, and he smashed into the ground. Cloud grabbed onto a chair, drastically slowing down his velocity, but destroying everything in his path. Unfortunately for the staff member, he went flying out the window._

Cloud thought this over, thinking about what he would tell Seifer. He decided on one answer. It seemed to be the best.

"Cid was drunk again," he said, pulling himself to his feet.

"I see…" Seifer had an understanding look on his face. Cid always got like this when he was drunk. Cloud walked over to Cid and kicked him. Cid snapped to attention immediately.

"Woah. Hey Cloud...Damn! What happened to this place?"

"…"

"Cloud?"

"You."

"Me?"

"You happened to this place."

"What do you mean…oh. I see. Well damn. I gotta switch to somethin' else. I dunno. Maybe tea?"

"Just…shut up Cid."

"Fine." Cid walked over to Tifa and as he was talking, repeatedly gestured over to Cloud. As Tifa walked away, Cid started to apologize to the police. Tifa walked over to Cloud. She was wearing a small, tight, black shirt and really short jean shorts. The small shirt emphasized the size of her already large breasts. Cloud never realized he was blushing. He knew he shouldn't be thinking about her like that. She was the landlady. And besides, he already has a girlfriend. He needs to stay faithful to Aeris, even though she is dead. _Would she mind?_

"Hey Cloud, I know what you're thinking," Seifer whispered in his ear.

"Really? What?" Cloud responded.

"You're thinking that Tifa is really hot. You want to get into her pants, but you feel like you would betray Aeris. Then you ask yourself if she would really mind."

_Wow…he's good._

"Worry no longer my friend, I will take the burden off of your hands. Seifer the lovemaster!"

"Oh…thanks Seifer, I appreciate it…WAIT A SECOND!" It was too late. Seifer was already making moves on Tifa. His moves. This had nothing to do with Cloud. He sighed. Sefier would just make things worse.

"Hey Tifa, I thought "very-fine" only came in a bottle." Seifer opened up with one of his doomed to fail, cheesy pickup lines.

"Please Seifer, spare me…" Tifa rolled her eyes in annoyance. Seifer lost his suave composure.

"You didn't like that one? He're I've got another one." Seifer regained composure and tried again. "If I could rearrange the alphabet, I'd put U and I together." Tifa swiveled around and looked at Seifer. _Oooh! I got her with that one._ Tifa slowly walked up to Seifer, put her face near his, leaned towards him, grabbed his coat…and chucked him across the room.

"If Cid's pickup lines don't work, why should yours?" _Ouch. That must have hurt his pride._ Cloud thought. Tifa walked up to Cloud. "Cloud, what the hell happened? No wait, you don't need to tell me. Cid and Seifer got drunk and bulldozed everything down. _Uh oh, she's angry. _Tifa was scary when she was angry.

"Actually it was just Ci…" Cloud tried to explain the actual events.

"No Cloud, I don't want to hear it! I can't keep paying for the repairs. I know it says that the landowner will pay for the first five house problems, but your five is costing me as much as five **thousand** of other peoples."

"Please Tifa, it wasn't me." Tifa put a heartbroken look on her face.

"No, no more. I'm sorry Cloud. I'm sorry about Aeris. She was a good friend of mine too. We all felt bad. We all got over it. It's been two years. You lost your job as a mercenary, so you got a job as a desk clerk. You slacked off and got drunk, and when your boss called you on it, you put him in the hospital. You've been jobless for nine months. Amazingly, Cid and Seifer can keep their jobs to pay for your rent. It may be the other guys who destroy things, but it's because of you."

"What do you mean?"

"When you were drunk, Cid and Seifer always were positive. They always tried to snap you out of it. When Seifer first came to Midgard, he was hard hearted, but you pulled him out of it. When you got drunk, Seifer would try to help, but you'd shun him away. He decided all that you taught him was hypocrisy and started to drink. That just pushed Cid over the edge with his already bad drinking problem."

"Tifa, I'm not a drunk anymore."

"I know that. But I can't put up with this anymore. It hurts me." Tifa put her hand on her chest. "It hurts me right here. You're depressed because Aeris, your love, is dead. I wish I could have had that love. The love that someone else has taken away from me is causing me pain and trouble. I'm sorry Cloud." Cloud looked down solemnly. He knew what was wrong. It may have taken him two years to figure out, but he knew it know. He was holding on to the past. He was holding on to Aeris. He was holding on to Sephiroth. He was trying to hold on to his old life. The life he had. Now he remembered Vincent's words before the man disappeared.

_Cloud was lying down. His broken and battered body was immobilized. He beat Sephiroth, but his life would never be the same. He felt a strong hand on his chest. He looked up. It was Vincent. The caped man was rubbing some sort of lotion on his wounds._

"_Vincent…"_

"_Quiet. Don't talk." He looked at Cloud with a powerful emotion in his eyes. It was an emotion he thought he'd never see from Vincent. Was it sadness? No. It was empathy. Vincent knew exactly what he was going through. "You have lost a loved one. She meant everything to you. You tried to get revenge on the one who took her away. You succeeded, and yet, you feel empty inside. You long for your old life, but deep inside, you know you can never have it back. You know that the moment you joined Soldier, you would have to deal with loss, pain, and death. Now you damn the choices you made. I went through the same thing." Vincent stood up. He had finished rubbing Cloud with the salve. "But remember this Cloud: you can never change the past. If you try, you will only end up hurting yourself. Pain only lasts forever if you let it, but true love will never die, no matter what happens. Vincent jumped into a tree. "I came to Earth to do good, but I failed. I needed your help. The words I just told you, you had already told them to me. Not through your words, but your actions. I hope we meet again Cloud. I have learned much from you." As he finished his sentence, a beam of light came down from the clouds. "You were my cloud. You were everyone's cloud. You were dark and gray. You gave us shade from painful sun: you gave us rain to quench our thirst. You cooled the heat from our burning pains. O Cloud my cloud, shade us from the heat and sun, and become pure and white again." Vincent's poem soothed Cloud. There was a flash of light and Vincent was gone._

It took Cloud two years to figure out what that poem meant. He, Cloud, was dark and gray inside. His personality was tainted by Soldier. This grayness was extracted by people around him, his friends. The grayness of his heart was turned into the joy of others. Defeating Sephiroth was the turning point in his life, whether he liked it or not. Vincent meant that he wasn't supposed to hold on to his burdens anymore. It took so long to realize. He looked up at Tifa who had a worried look on her face.

"Cloud?"

"So, I have to go right?"

"Cloud…"

"It's alright. It's time for me to leave anyways. I've stayed here too long."

"What?" Cloud put his hand on Tifa's shoulder.

"I have hurt you Tifa, and I'm sorry." He leaned in and kissed her on the forehead. "Don't hold it against me. There is someone I must find. He taught me something that I already know. I have to find myself, inside of me. Goodbye Tifa." He turned from her and walked away. He lifted the door off the ground and fixed it securely in the doorframe. He took one last look at the apartment, opened the door, and closed it behind him. Then the wall collapsed.

Seifer and Cid were sitting in the lobby.

"So, where do ya think Cloud is?" Cid looked around.

"I don't know, he said he'd meet us in the lobby." Siefer tossed his head in annoyance. "Next time he asks us to wait, I'm putting up a two hour limit. Only two hours." Cid had a blank look on his face. "What?"

"Nothin'. It's just that two hours is still a long time." There was an awkward silence. After about five more minutes, a figure appeared in the elevator door.

"It's about time you got here." Seifer stared at Cloud, waiting for an answer.

"Did you bring the suitcases?"

"Yes."

"Alright," said Cloud. He motioned Seifer and Cid to pick theirs up. He walked to the door. Took one final breath and walked to the door. He turned around to talk to the other guys. "Well, this is it. Once we walk out this door, we'll be new men. No worries, no depression, and most of all, no beer." Cid shuffled when Cloud said this. This would be hard for him to quit drinking. Seifer took the lead walking out the door.

"Well? What are you waiting for? It's go time!"

**Well, Cloud, Seifer, and Cid are starting new lives. I wonder what's going to happen next. Wait, I'm writing it. I know. Ha! Don't forget to send me reviews people. I want to know what you think. Thanks to everyone who does send reviews. When I read a good review, I really appreciate it;**


	3. Stranger

The Past of the Future

_Cloud was walking down the road with Zack and Sephiroth. They were so strong, so powerful. How was he assigned on a mission with them? Zack was renowned through out Soldier as Steel and Sephiroth had been named the greatest general ever. Cloud was some unneeded flunky with a machine gun. They were strong enough to do this mission by themselves. Why did he need to come? His gaze met the gravel of the road. Zack must have noticed this, because he said to Cloud, "What wrong with you bro?" Cloud looked up; Zack had a grin on his face, the same grin he always had. "Oh, it's nothing." A look of concern crossed Zack's eyes. "Hmph. Suit yourself."_

Cloud scanned the room. _Pathetic._ He thought to himself. He gave them one day out of the month for drinking. They weren't alcoholics anymore, but they drank like them on "drinking day" as it had been dubbed. The bar was a mess. Drunken bar fights and cavorting reduced the room to a pile of broken chairs and tables. All the patrons in the room were drunk and incapacitated except for Cloud. He got up and walked over to Cid's drunken body. He smelled of booze. It was disgusting. _Things haven't gotten all that much better, _he thought._ They still get drunk on "drinking day" and it's worse than usual._ Cloud sighed. _At least it's only one day a month. _He checked Cid's pulse. Still beating. That was a good sign. Cloud stood up and walked over to the unconscious bartender and put a nice hefty stack of 100 dollar bills in his shirt with a note to pay for the damage. He then walked over to Cid and Seifer, hoisted them over his shoulders and walked out the bar door. He slumped the two drunken bodies against their motorbikes. _Hmm. How is this going to work?_ He looked around for awhile. Then he had an idea. He grabbed a bicycle from a nearby dumpster and used a drill and to mount the bicycle wheels onto the sides of their bikes. He tied each of them to their bikes with a rope he kept in his seat compartment. He used the other rope he had and rigged their bikes to his bike. Just as he was about to take off for their hotel apartment, a sword came whistling through the air like an arrow and practically ripped his bike in half. _What the…! _Cloud was barely able to dodge in time. He looked up and saw a cloaked man falling from a rooftop. _Vincent?_ Cloud thought. The cloaked figure landed on top of his sword, tearing it out of the ground and slipping it inside of his cloak. The man looked up. All you could see were his eyes. His powerful eyes. Eyes that stared into Cloud's soul. _No, this isn't Vincent. This man has different eyes. This man's eyes show more sadness than anger._ The man waked over to Cloud and stared him down.  
"Well well, I've been looking all over for you, Cloud." The man's eyes opened wide and his pupils shrunk. Cloud froze and then went into some kind of trance.

"_Get them! Get the subjects." Cloud awoke to these discordant shouts. He looked up to find himself in Zack's arms. Zack's face was covered in blood and sweat. His gray hair was tattered and messy. His clothes where torn and where they were torn were deep cuts._

"_Z…Zack…What's g…going on?" Cloud muttered with weak breath._

"_Shh, don't talk." Zack put a hand over his mouth. He still stared straight ahead. Cloud felt a pain in his body. It was the mako Jenova testing. He didn't react too well to it. Zack on the other hand was fine. He felt Zack put him down and shield him with the Buster Sword. "Ordinary soldiers can't beat me!" He was downing them one by one. Punch to the gut, kick to the face. They fell like flies. More soldiers came. "They are persistent! Let's go Cloud." He hoisted him over his shoulder. "I'd love to give you a longer break but these guys won't give up." Zack kept running. The soldiers just kept coming. "We're almost there Cloud!" There was a flash of light. Cloud couldn't remember anymore._

"Ungh!" Cloud fell crippled to the ground. "S…S…Sephiroth…" he groaned.

"Well, I can see you figured it out. This time though, I will kill you. I won't fail a third time." He walked over to Cloud's body and raised his sword over him. Just before the killing blow, Sephiroth's sword flew out of his hand. "What!" Standing between them was Seifer, gunblade in hand.

"Sorry, I can't let you do that." Cid jumped from behind a motorcycle and picked up Cloud.

"Hey, buddy. Don't die on us now." Cid lifted Cloud to his feet.

"You are fools. You can't defeat me." Sephiroth did a back flip and pulled his sword out of the ground. Even with all the movement he still didn't betray any part of his body to sight but his eyes and his arm. He brandished his sword at the three. "Time to die!" He charged.

"Not today!" A voice rang out from the buildings. Sephiroth steered to a halt.

"Who was that?" He looked around. He saw a shadowed figure jump the roofs of the buildings above him. "I see you!" He put his arm out and launched a blot of energy at the figure. It missed and crashed into a building.

"I'm over here!" A man came shooting out of an alley like a bullet and slammed into Sephiroth. He did a flip in the air and landed on his feet. The newcomer had longish auburn hair that partially covered his eyes, and his purple outfit seemed to have wings that hung downward. "You will not hurt these people."

"Damn, it's you…" Sephiroth stood back up. "I wasn't planning on this interference. In these circumstances I must retreat for now, but I will return for your heads." He leaped up impossibly high into the air and disappeared.

"There was something familiar about that guy," Cloud said.

"Besides the fact that he's Sephiroth?" asked Seifer sarcastically.

"Yes actually." Cloud pondered about it, but drew a blank.

"Well I'll have to say that was an extremely short fight." Cid said while adjusting his trademark goggles.

"I'd have to agree," piped in the mystery man, "but it's over now and I have to go pursue that man."

"Wait a sec, who are you?" Seifer asked.

"My name is Kratos Aurion. I come from the land of Yggdrasilia. I work for the broken organization Cruxis."

"Whoa, whoa, Yggdrasilia? Cruxis? That's all new to me." A bewildered Cid questioned the auburn haired man.

"Ah yes, I forgot. This is technically still on Earth." Kratos turned towards the three. "Sit down, I'll explain the whole story."


	4. A New Beginning

The Past of the Future

_It hurt. It hurt so much. His body was in pain. His eyes burnt from the tears. He couldn't believe it, Zack was dying._

"_No, no. Zack don't leave me." Tears streamed down his eyes. "What about becoming mercenaries? What about making an odd jobs business? Please, don't die." Zack reached up and grabbed Cloud's hand with the little energy he had left._

"_C…Cloud, those weren't my dreams, they were our dreams. You can go on and live them out. Live them out for the both of us."_

"_Zack, you said you'd never leave me. You're breaking your promise." Zack put his hand over Cloud's mouth. Cloud looked down at him. His usually smiling face was crying._

"_D…Don't talk like that, C…Cloud. I'll never leave you. I'll live on as long as you remember me. We're best friends, aren't we?"_

"_Zack, you can't die."_

"_I'll only die if you forget me. Don't forget me Cloud, don't forget the good times we had together. O…Oh, and one l…last thing. Please, take care of A…Aeris for me."_

"_Zack, Zack? God no, no, no, no." Cloud wept for Zack. He dragged himself over to Zack's Buster Sword. He grabbed the handle, hoisted it into the air, and shouted. "ShinRa, I will destroy you. I will kill you all if it's the last thing I do!"_

Cloud sat there. He was ashamed of himself. For a few years Cloud had forgotten all about Zack and his last request. With Tifa's help, he remembered Zack and his promise. But did he want these memories? What was he thinking? Zack was his best friend. Even the memory of his death was a welcome memory. Zack never did come back though. All these years, Zack was still gone, and Cloud let Aeris die. What was the world coming to? Now all he had were his roommates and a man telling him that he came from an alternate dimension. Maybe he should listen in…

"Yggdrasilia is an alternate dimension from Earth. Strangely enough, my planet too used to be two dimensions, one was Sylvarant and one was Tethe' alla. On each dimension was a common ground, the land where the Tower of Salvation stood. When the world was restored back to its original form, the Yggdrasil Tree grew in place of the Tower of Salvation, and on the other side of the world, a black city of steel appeared on the other side. Above the city was a clash of light and dark. We called it the cataclysm. A massive darkness crashed into the power of the planet, the source of mana. We learned later that the darkness was an alien life form named Jenova. At first we were weary of the city, but then we investigated. Apparently, the city was actually located on a separate plain called Earth, yet it shared our mutual mana source. When we enter the city and leave the city, we go to and from Yggdrasilia. When you, on the other hand, go to and from it, you stay on the Earth plain. It was quite a phenomenon. We tried to investigate further, because of a loss we had, all of our power granting spheres, exspheres, were at the spot where the city was erected. This was a devastating loss of resources. We learned only later that you people had learned to harness the exspheres capabilities. You carved runes into the exspheres themselves, allowing you to absorb them directly into your bodies. We used this city to…harvest the exspheres, which you began calling Materia. Everything worked for many years, the city grew and grew, and it was greater than anything we could have built ourselves. But then came that fateful day. ShinRa corp. decided to build its first Mako reactor. It used up the planet's mana to create power for your cities. Soon many Mako reactors sprouted up around your planet. By that time we had figured a way to bypass the dimensional barrier. We used a prototype materia, the grey materia. A person who had that in their body became anchored to the opposite planet. Take it off and they came back to their own plain. Over time, the planet's mana was becoming exausted. We tried to stop it. We had our spies spread propaganda about ShinRa. From that propaganda came AVALANCHE. Things were looking up. Then there was a complication, a man named Sephiroth. He planned on using the planets mana energy to create a god of himself. This blow would have been too devastating to the planet. How did he gain this kind of power? Our stupidity. The upper echelons of Cruxis extracted from the gray material, black and white. Life and Death. Sephiroth got his hands on the black, so we planted the white in the hands of a child of the ancient civilization. Then came your fateful battle with Sephiroth. You defeated him and brought peace, but there was one problem, Jenova."

"Wait, wait, wait, we killed Jenova," Cid said confusedly.

"That's what we thought," said Kratos, "but Jenova fled to an asteroid outside of your planet. It stayed there and recovered. Now it is back on the move. Here's an interesting fact for you: Sephiroth's evil personality was really Jenova's. The man we fought back there isn't Sephiroth, but he has the personality that Jenova crafted for him. I am here to use that man to find Jenova and destroy it. Jenova knows there is a higher power connected to this planet. It landed on Earth because of an accident, but stayed because of your sudden link to our planet when it crashed."

Cloud decided to join in, "So your saying that Jenova has been pulling strings for hundreds of years?"

"Exactly."

"Wow."

"Yes, its ultimate goal is the Yggdrasil tree source of mana, or what you call Mako. If it gets its hands on the tree, both Yggdrasilia and Earth will die." Seifer put his head on his hand.

"So this is kind of a 'save the world' thing, except now it's two worlds?"

"Yes, but I work alone," Kratos said. You could tell there would be no point in arguing.

"But you wouldn't mind if we did our own thing?"

"As long as you don't interfere."

"Perfect! That settles it." Seifer stood up. "Were going on an adventure." Cloud looked indignant.

"No, we aren't."

"Why not?"

"Because…" Cloud paused, he didn't have a good reason.

"You have five seconds."

"You can't just decide something so fast."

"I'm doing this cause you're a bum when you have nothing to do."

"Screw you, I'm not a bum."

"Yes you are." Cloud started to get angry.

"YOU SHUT UP! YOU HAVE NO IDEA!" He shot up and grabbed Seifer by the collar.

"You're a bum. I might have been a drunk, but at least I made the best of things."

"JUST SHUT UP! MOST OF MY LIFE I LEARNED EVERYTHING I KNEW WAS A LIE! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT I'VE GONE THROUGH!" Seifer just stood there.

"No, I don't," said Seifer. Cloud faltered. He wasn't expecting this answer.

"My heart used to be like yours: confused and afraid. I hurt the ones I loved because of it. I've lost loved ones too, but no, I never had to figure out that most of my life was a lie," Seifer slapped Cloud across the face. "But don't be such a chicken-shit." Cloud let go. He sat down. Seifer put his hand on Cloud's shoulder. "Come on. It'll be good for you." Cloud sat there for awhile. Then Kratos walked up to him. He didn't look him in the eye, but you could feel his understanding.

"Sometimes," Kratos said, "it is best to keep the past in the past. Always look towards the light." He walked away, but as he did he said, "I don't know what your choice will be, but remember, things are only as bad as you want them to be." Kratos disappeared into the shadow of the alleyway. No one knew when they would see him again. Cloud turned his head backwards.

"Hey, Cid, you've been quiet. What's your opinion?" Cid looked up.

"I'm gettin' old. It sounds dangerous, but if I die, I might as well die with my boots on." Cid stood up and lent Cloud a hand. "We know that what we see with our eyes alone isn't necessarily the truth...won't you join me on a journey for the truth?" Cloud grabbed his hand.

"Thank you, Cid. Thank you, Seifer. I know what I want to do know." _Zack, Aeris, it must have sucked watching me be such a loser. I'm going to be myself again, whatever that may be. I'm going to search for my purpose. _Cloud looked at both Cid and Seifer. Now he knew. No matter how much of a loser he was, no matter how bad things seemed, no matter what happened, they smiled. They kept him going these past years. They always had an outstretched hand for when he stumbled. They had their flaws, but who didn't. It was time to shine anew.


End file.
